Based on preliminary reports, this is what seems to have happened on Tuesday evening: Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a UCLA student, was quietly studying in the campus library around 11:30pm. Campus police asked him for his ID, a usual procedure. Mostafa didn't have it with him and walked toward the exit. While en route, one of the police officers laid a hand on Mostafa (which may well be simple battery) and he reacted by saying "Get off of me." That's when he was hit with a blast from a Taser, which can render someone unable to walk for 5 to 15 minutes. But the cops, through malice or ignorance, kept demanding that Mostafa immediately stand up and walk to the door. He was screaming at this point and said he could not, at which point they Tased him again and again. The cops also threatened to Taser bystanders as well if they persisted in asking for badge numbers. This, too, is on videotape and is in fact a crime. (Think that cop will go to jail? Right.) The video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3CdNgoC0cE Articles on this incident: http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=38958 http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=38960 http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-cellcamera16nov16,1,2951795.story http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_319101652.html Other amateur video that seems to show LAPD brutality: http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dan_glaister/2006/11/candid_cameras.html http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cellcamera16nov16,0,4794591.story Response from civil liberty groups (courtesy of Marc Rotenberg): http://www.acsblog.org/ http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/call_for_probe_of_ucla_muslim_student_taser_incident/0011752 Background on police use of tasers, which has resulted in deaths: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR511392004 http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engamr510302006 Excerpt: "They have been used against unruly schoolchildren... and people who argue with police or fail to comply immediately with a command. Cases described in this report include the stunning of a 15-year-old schoolgirl in Florida, following a dispute on a bus, and a 13- year-old girl in Arizona, who threw a book in a public library." -Declan _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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